It Comes Down to Fate
by darthvair65
Summary: There are reasons why Roxas dreads his and Axel's wedding anniversary every year – but that doesn't stop Axel from trying to get it right for their tenth. Charity fic for JustSayNoToPants 3


**Title: **It Comes Down to Fate

**Pairing: **Roxas/Axel

**Rating: **R

**Wordcount**: 6800

**Beta: **the awesome alovelysilence

**Warnings**: Fluff, language, fanboys, sex (implied and explicit)

**A/N: **written for the plumtomato for fandomaid – thank you for being so patient 3

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters within, and neither do I own the rights to any songs or artists mentioned.

**Summary: **There are reasons why Roxas dreads his and Axel's wedding anniversary every year – but that doesn't stop Axel from trying to get it right for their tenth.

There were a total of four days in the course of any year that Roxas looked forward to. The first of these was December 31 – New Year's Eve – because he enjoyed the idea of a new year and a fresh start, not that there was anything that needed erasing in the first place. The second was Axel's birthday; above all things Roxas _loved_ planning for Axel's surprise gift, relished the look on his face when he finally uncovered Roxas' meticulous plans. His own birthday had long ago lost its luster; but then again, his own birthday had never really been a big deal to him anyway. Roxas' third favorite day was October 31, for no particular reason other than his own inner child – and fourth was his sister's birthday. She threw awesome parties.

It might be surprising to note that Roxas and Axel's wedding anniversary was not on this list.

Axel and Roxas had been together for thirteen years and married for nine, now almost ten. And in those nine-almost-ten years, Roxas had grown to dread the arrival of each anniversary.

He and Axel were happy, there was no question about that. In fact, they were ridiculously happy, still head over heels, hearts all a-flutter in love with each other. In all his thirty-two years, Roxas had never loved another person as much as he loved Axel – and he couldn't imagine the thought of not being _with _him. The inkling of the thought brought a nauseous feeling to his stomach.

It was the anniversary that he dreaded, that he alone seemed to accept was cursed. The original day of their wedding had been perfect – it was all he wanted, just a simple ceremony with their friends and family supporting them as they exchanged vows in front of the justice of the peace. They didn't need an elaborate ceremony, as long as the essential elements were there. Everything was perfect.

Then Axel decided he wanted to do something special for their first anniversary. Nothing too big, as they were both still recovering from the financial stresses of higher education, but _something_ nice_._

Roxas was pleasantly surprised when Axel's ardent desire to celebrate their anniversary came in the form of a new sushi restaurant in the center of town, one he'd seen but never had the time to go in. The meal itself seemed to taste fine – it was only after that the indigestion hit and Roxas was bedridden for the next day and then some, muttering violently about food poisoning and doing various violent things to the chef that fed him spoiled eel while Axel tended to him. Axel wasn't a fish person, and obviously there had been nothing wrong with his chicken tempura.

As the next few anniversaries came and went, Roxas became convinced it was cursed. Axel on the other hand, seemed to take it as a challenge to make the next year better than the last – which proved harder than he sometimes anticipated. Things happen; most of the time they're little things that they can work through, like the hotel that gave them two immobile twin beds rather than the queen they asked for on the second anniversary. For their eighth anniversary Axel planned a surprise trip to the Harry Potter theme park in Florida – without anticipating the immense crowds they were bombarded by. They enjoyed themselves nonetheless, but the intense numbers of people made their time together less relaxing.

After the ninth anniversary was spent sleeping under a bench in an airport when their connecting flight to the Cayman Islands was delayed, Roxas begged and pleaded with Axel that they simply spend their tenth together – no destination or special _anything_ necessary.

That request officially only lasted about seven months, but Roxas was sure Axel had begun preparations for something anyway, much to his chagrin.

"Trust me," were the words that betrayed Roxas' doom. "Just trust me."

Roxas did in fact trust Axel – but he also knew Murphy's Law had a particular fixation on them.

"Why does Murphy hate you?" Riku, one of their friends, asked when he and Axel were out at their favorite bar. Riku had been their friend for years – aided by the fact that Roxas' brother had begun dating the other man in college, and he and Sora had been inseparable ever since. The topic of their impending anniversary came up, and when Roxas started muttering about Murphy's cosmic stupidity Riku started prodding.

"God only knows," Roxas muttered, taking a sip of his beer.

"We didn't pay enough tribute to him in college," Axel rolled his eyes.

Riku _snerked _from somewhere down the bar. "Every anniversary?"

"Roxas can't let go of the seventh."

"What happened on your seventh anniversary?" Riku asked quizzically, raising an eyebrow at Roxas.

"We don't talk about the seventh," Roxas answered, lightning fast. He didn't even look up from his basket of onions.

Riku directed his raised eyebrow more at Axel now, fork suspended halfway to his mouth.

Axel huffed. "It's not _my _fault you didn't tell me you were allergic to that stuff."

"I itched for _weeks_ after that," Roxas grumbled. Then he looked up and brandished his fork at Riku. "Check with Sora before you go out buying those fancy miracle lubes and whipped creams and shit. Allergies run in the family, got that?"

With a rather irate-looking blond threatening him with a fork, Riku saw no other choice but to nod dutifully.

Roxas, despite his small stature, was rather formidable even when armed with a small utensil; Riku had seen him kick idiots' asses and threaten them with cutlery more than once, and he wasn't particularly interested in joining that list. After a moment Roxas withdrew his fork from its position in front of Riku's face and stabbed a piece of chicken with it. Axel was already chatting cheerfully about something else entirely, the fork and evil glares forgotten.

"Sometimes I'm not sure how you two have been together for so long," Riku remarked, shaking his head.

"The question should really be 'how did we even make it to the first date,'" Roxas snickered.

"We were destined," Axel said dramatically. "A fated collision of souls. Our eyes met across the room and I knew you were going to be mine."

"Bullshit," Roxas snorted. "Nothing works like that."

"True. And you never really did make it easy for me. He played so hard to get I nearly gave up."

"You were relentless. Don't know why I gave in."

Axel whipped around to glare playfully at him. "I _wooed_ you. How could you not want to go out on a date with me?"

Roxas cocked an eyebrow and deadpanned, "I told you your tattoos were sexy and you said my earrings looked girly."

Axel paused, brain reeling back about twelve years. "I _was_ drunk, if you remember," he said quickly, as if that explained everything including the answer to life, the universe, and everything. "And I was right, they were your sister's."

"That's beside the point," Roxas waved his explanation away. "You have always sucked at flirting."

"Which is surprising, since my own particular _joie de vivre_ and exceptional charm never failed me before," Axel conceded.

Roxas rolled his eyes. "Good thing I liked you anyway," he said in a tone that might have been teasing if it wasn't so soft.

Axel leaned over and kissed his cheek. "Yeah, yeah, I love you too."

0o0

About two months before their anniversary, Roxas was going over some of their bills and credit card statements (he was being financially responsible, not looking for evidence of Axel's mischief at all, no sir) when he noticed something. Five hundred dollars – gone.

Now between the two of them and their fulltime jobs five hundred dollars was not going to be missed _too_ terribly, but it was still a couple hundred less in their account that they had access to. Roxas frowned. Money didn't just disappear – it went somewhere, and Roxas hadn't withdrawn that amount in the last few months so it had to be Axel's doing.

When he confronted the redhead it became clear instantly that the money was for something anniversary-related based on Axel's devious grin, and not some gambling issue that Roxas' brain had wildly concocted.

"What did you buy?" Roxas demanded stubbornly.

"I'm not telling," Axel retorted. "You'll just have to wait and see. It's special."

"You're impossible. Give me a heads-up the next time you go drain our slush fund."

"And ruin your surprise? Hell no."

Roxas stared at him. "You're planning something insane, aren't you?"

Axel didn't answer verbally; he put his lips together and whistled a little tune.

"Axel," Roxas said, his voice near whining. "We really don't need to do anything crazy this year. Let's stay home, enjoy each other-"

"But this is the first big one," Axel protested, eyes wide and begging for both forgiveness for past terrible anniversary plans and a chance to turn his record all around. He grasped Roxas' hand and pressed lips to his knuckles, muttering "please" against them. "I won't let you down this time."

"It's not like that at all, you never let me down babe," Roxas sighed. "You never have, I don't think that way at all."

"You hate our anniversaries," Axel pointed out, sounding sad. "I'd say that counts as letting you down."

Shaking his head, Roxas pushed Axel's shoulders back against the couch and straddled his lap, settling in comfortably. Axel's hands automatically moved to rest on his hips, the pads of his fingers against the small of Roxas' back. The blond leveled him with a no-nonsense stare as he put his arms over Axel's shoulders, shifting his weight on the redhead's thighs.

"You look like you're going to scold me."

"I'm not," Roxas insisted. "And you don't let me down, you never do. So stop worrying about it, you don't have anything to make up for or whatever you think. As long as I'm spending our anniversary with you, as far as I'm concerned it's perfect. Even if neither of us have enough luck put together to keep us out of trouble."

"I think I got it perfect this time though. One more chance," Axel begged. "You won't regret it," he quipped, adding a dose of his mischievous smile.

Roxas groaned, knowing that grin and that Axel would not be defeated on this. "Fine, _fine._ Just don't go overboard," he said, leaning in to kiss him.

"Pack for a weekend," Axel answered almost immediately, as if all he'd been waiting for was the reluctant ok. Axel continued to press kisses to his lips enthusiastically, his hands sneakily making their way down to cup Roxas' ass. Roxas grinned against his lips and slowly pushed Axel to the side so he fell back against the couch seat, with the blond following him down.

The next few days were rather busy. Axel was obviously making last-minute calculations and plans while Roxas just tried to get all of his paperwork done before they left. He already had Friday off, so it was just making sure his work was complete and his bags were packed for whatever Axel had been planning.

Friday morning dawned with an almost sinister brightness that invaded their bedroom and busied itself burning Roxas' eyes through their lids. Roxas, who was still very much asleep and having _none _of this wakefulness shit, groaned and stuffed his head under his pillow, pulling the comforter into a cocoon around his body. Underneath the covers, he was safe. The light couldn't pester him. And maybe Axel would think twice too.

Roxas thought about this and the fact that Axel had Planned something (it was always in capitals in his mind, because it usually merited emphasis – a planning Axel was a devious one) and decided that hiding under the covers in his safe cocoon was probably a great idea.

Until he smelled pancakes.

_Damn him_.

It should be noted that while Axel was not exactly Mr. Chef Extraordinaire, he did make some pretty awesome pancakes. College had trained him in his art, and over those four years he'd experimented enough that Roxas was pretty sure it was a scheme worthy of Pavlov. The sweet smell of divine, delicious pancakes always dragged him from a comfy bed and wondrous sleep without fail.

Roxas cursed to himself and frowned at the comforter covering his face, then sniffed experimentally. _Chocolate._ If he didn't love Axel so much, he might have caused a bit of a scene.

And so, lured by the promising aromas of freshly-cooked pancakes and chocolate, Roxas slid out of bed and ambled towards the kitchen in his boxers.

Axel, as it happened, had just finished making a stack of strawberry pancakes and was putting the finishing touches of chocolate covered strawberries and some chocolate drizzle on top of the stack when Roxas walked in.

Axel noticed his presence and looked up, smile bright and mischievous. "Good morning babe. I made you pancakes."

"So I see," Roxas mumbled, sniffing and circling where Axel was plating the masterpiece.

"Come on, sit and eat!"

Roxas continued to stare. "Why are you wearing a Speedo under that apron?"

"What Speedo? I'm not wearing a Speedo. These are my anniversary weekend underpants."

"If you turn around and they say 'Hottie' on the back I'm going to laugh."

Axel stuck his tongue out and wiggled his wide hips. "I don't need underwear to tell me I'm sexy."

Roxas gave up and held out his hands. "Pancakes?"

"Heavenly pancakes," Axel corrected, handing the plate over. "Would you like a striptease with that, sir?"

"No, but you can eat them with me. Striptease later."

Axel purred ridiculously and sat down beside him, helping himself to some of the pancakes. When they finished eating they showered, dressed, and threw two small suitcases into the back of the car. Axel locked their condo up and took the wheel, seeing as he was the only one between them who knew their ultimate destination. Despite Roxas' insecurities about such a trip for their anniversary he and Axel sang in the car, loudly and obnoxiously to pass the time on the highway. Traffic was surprisingly light, but Roxas still had absolutely no idea where they were going. He wasn't familiar with this area in the least, but Axel appeared to be completely confident in his own mental GPS.

After three hours in the car, Roxas gave into his curiosity; he sighed and looked over at his husband, who was singing 'Rock You Like a Hurricane' like it was a promise for later. "Babe, would you mind telling me where the hell we're going?"

"Since you asked so nicely," Axel grinned, taking a break from his singing. "New York City."

Roxas narrowed his eyes. "Just what are you planning? What's in New York City?"

Axel chuckled evilly. "You'll just have to wait and see, won't you?

It wasn't until they entered the city that they hit significant traffic; an hour was spent trying to navigate one street through Hell's Kitchen, between bumper-to-bumper traffic and daring pedestrians darting in front of them nearly causing accidents. Finally Axel pulled up a side street and into a garage, much to Roxas' relief. Axel could be an excessively aggressive driver when he got stressed, and Roxas' knuckles were white from gripping the handle on the car door for dear life by the time they arrived. The garage attendants took the car, and they headed up to the front desk to check in with their bags.

The lobby was quite nice, with marbled tiles covering the floor and soft leather armchairs off near the bar; modest chandeliers hung from the ceiling throughout the lobby and over the front desk, shining light on the dark wood of the desk and the primly dressed man behind the counter. He handed them their room key and they made their way up to the thirteenth floor of the hotel.

Their room was a small suite, brightly lit by a large window at the far side; while Axel was busy putting their leftover lunches in the little refrigerator at the entryway Roxas sidestepped him and moved into the main space – only to find that the bed was not exactly what they'd been promised.

"Axel."

"Yes, dear?"

"What kind of bed did you ask for?"

"A queen. Why?"

"Because there are two fulls."

"The hell?" Axel asked, stepping up beside Roxas, surveying the distinct lack of a queen bed. Then he shrugged. "It's not like it's that bad – we'll just have to use each other as pillows, eh?"

"You're lucky I don't mind you're irregular body heat," Roxas said, depositing his small bag on one of the beds. "So what are you up to doing tonight?"

"I say we go take a look around, see where we are and all," Axel said. Roxas just caught him putting _something_ in his wallet – money? It was white . . . probably one of the room keys.

Roxas took Axel's hand as they set out from their hotel to do some exploring of New York City; the redhead had a surprising spring in his step and a secretive smile that made Roxas wonder just what he was up to. As it turned out their hotel was a few blocks from Times Square, but they steered clear of it at first, visiting the quirky museums and shops Axel liked to seek out first whenever they went somewhere, like Madame Tussards and Ripley's Believe It or Not. They were always good for a laugh. As evening fell Axel steered them into a tiny burger joint called Five Guys; Roxas raised an eyebrow at him as they were waiting for their order, the smell of fresh-cut French fries and bubbling cheese in the air.

"Tomorrow's the really nice restaurant," Axel said with a sly grin. "Didn't want to overdo it today."

"Really."

"You'll see," he said cryptically.

"I'm sure I will," Roxas said, taking a bite out of his messy, juicy burger.

0o0

Times Square lit up at night felt so different from its daytime appearance it was almost alien. The sidewalks were packed with people, tourists and natives alike as they made their way through crowds to restaurants and theaters and concert halls. Axel seemed to know exactly where he was going, holding Roxas' hand tightly as he weaved through throngs of people. For a minute it looked like they were going to see one of the musicals – Roxas wouldn't have minded seeing How To Succeed In Business, but Axel steered them away just at the last minute.

"Where are we going?" Roxas asked, starting to get frustrated.

"Almost there," Axel shouted back over the crowds surrounding them. A few minutes later he heard Axel say "here we go" right before he pulled Roxas towards the doors of yet another theater hall. Roxas just barely caught the end of the marquee and went silent.

Inside the lobby there were only a few people milling about, with a lot of security guards patrolling the space; one of them approached them immediately, and Axel showed him tickets while Roxas just looked around the lobby with wide eyes, taking in the posters all over the walls.

Suddenly Roxas knew what the five hundred dollars Axel had spent was for.

When Axel turned back to him after being ok'd by security, Roxas nearly hyperventilating. "You," he managed to get out, half laughing and half gasping for breath, "are a crazy person."

Axel grinned. "You wanted to know what I was hiding for the surprise, and here it is."

Roxas laughed, a bit nervously and still blindsided with surprise. "Why are we here early?"

"Because these are tickets to a private sound check," Axel said quietly, producing a set of tickets from his jacket pocket. "And that starts in half an hour."

Roxas squeaked. Then he started flailing, barely making out whole sentences as he tried to express his inconceivable glee and excitement because HOLY SHIT THIS WAS HAPPENING. Axel took his arm, still wearing that delirious grin, and walked up the staircase with Roxas stuck to his side.

0o0

When Axel and Roxas first began dating, they quickly realized that they had both grown up with a healthy respect for the same musicians and bands. They bonded over music first and foremost, which is not surprising given music's transcendent nature; they fell in love to the music of Meat Loaf, The Eagles, Cream, Billy Idol, and Placebo playing in the background, arguing over which song was the best, which guitarist could beat the other in a play-off, whether one should make more music or not. But both of them had a favorite in Billy Joel, who inspired Roxas to take up piano when he was younger and whose songs Axel's mother had used to sing him and his brother to sleep as children.

Accordingly the first concert they went to as a couple was a Billy Joel concert. They were still in college, and one of Roxas' friends from home had managed to come by tickets to the event only to discover she couldn't go; Roxas promptly bought them from her and tackled Axel the next day with the tickets in hand.

Billy Joel wasn't touring as much as he used to, and the sheer dumb luck that he was playing a stadium near their college had them both flailing as they sat on the bus into the nearby city to see him play. He played everything, all of their favorite songs and then some; he sang with passion and there was love in his fingertips as they glided across the keys of his grand piano, never missing a note of his masterpieces. They both suspected that the last glass of water one of the ushers brought him was actually vodka, but by that point it didn't matter; they stood along with the rest of the stadium to sing 'Piano Man' with the piano man himself, and curled up in the back seat of the bus together as they headed back to campus, their hands firmly locked together.

After their very toned-down marriage ceremony Sora and Reno threw them a ridiculously loud and energetic party that might have ended with Axel and Roxas playfully swing dancing to 'For the Longest Time.' All of his CDs were still some of the most played in their cars, though now accompanied on mix CDs by other artists as well. But with all this in mind, neither had been to one of his concerts in several years, though they had wanted to; he just wasn't playing in the Northeast much during that time.

Now the crazy bastard Roxas called a husband had gotten them tickets to an exclusive sound check before Billy Joel went out on stage for the rest of the concert-goers.

0o0

Axel had won the tickets into the sound check by pure chance; the radio station he listened to on his way into work said they had several sets of two, and Axel just happened to be caller eight when he called in. That was about three months before their anniversary, and the next day Axel began really making plans surrounding his lucky win. The hard part was convincing Roxas to go along with him, especially when he was rather set on having a nice, relaxing evening at their condo – take-out, wine, erotic massage, lots of sex . . . even Axel found that plan very appetizing. But a private sound check with one of their favorite artists on the weekend of their anniversary? It landed in the 'Must Do' column of Axel's brain.

The sound check in and of itself was flat-out amazing – they sat in the front row with the ten or so others who'd gotten tickets, looking up at the man seated at the grand piano with awed expressions as he went through the mandatory tests to make sure his piano was tuned with the other instruments in the band, and that all the microphones worked. When that was done, Joel opened up a plastic bottle of water and took a sip; then he turned on the bench and chatted with them for a couple of minutes; his smile was a lot more jovial than Roxas remembered, eyes bright and he could see the younger man there in his grin and the way his eyes crinkled when he laughed, like he could with Axel. After a little while Joel offered to do some song requests before the show, without accompaniment – just his voice and the melodies of his piano. He played through the songs requested by the others while they sat transfixed; it wasn't until the last few notes of 'Captain Jack' trailed off and Joel prompted them for another that Axel shouted out "Just the Way You Are," and the piano man flashed him a grin.

Roxas was on cloud nine, flying high as a kite for the rest of the night. He was flushed bright red by the time Joel finished singing and Axel squeezed his hand as he leaned in to kiss him; even the concert that followed seemed to fly by without much notice, though he clearly remembered Axel molding himself against his back, holding him tight and swaying with the lyrics of 'While the Night is Still Young.' The concert let out, and Axel and Roxas walked back to their hotel hand in hand, both grinning, deliriously happy.

The sudden warmth of the hotel elevator broke Roxas out of his delirium, and he realized he needed to give Axel his anniversary present tonight too. He needed to get Axel out of the room for a little bit so he could though.

When they got back into their room, it was a bit after midnight. Roxas walked in and fidgeted, knowing he needed to act fast. "Axel, would you mind going down to get some extra pillows?"

"We don't already have enough pillows?"

"Yeah," Roxas said hastily, trying to sound like EVERYTHING WAS ENTIRELY NORMAL and he wasn't planning something so Axel would get suspicious. "But those pillows are . . . feathers."

Axel nodded to himself. Roxas was allergic to feather pillows too. There was a reason Axel nicknamed him Bubble Boy to tease him before they started dating.

"I'm really sorry, I forgot to ask when we were down there," Roxas said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"No worries, I'll go get some," Axel said, pulling Roxas in and kissing his forehead. "Fiber pillows for my Bubble Boy, coming right up." He left promptly, so as to escape Roxas' ire at the nickname.

For a brief moment Roxas mentally retorted, _Do you __**want**__ to get laid later?_ Then he started scrambling; he wasn't sure how long it would take Axel to go down to the lobby, engage in meaningless flirting with the blonde receptionist, explain his husband's quirky hatred of feather pillows, tease the receptionist about her blushing at the thought of the two of them sleeping together, actually _get_ the pillows and bring them back up again. Roxas figured he might have ten minutes.

So he moved quickly, pulling the stack of drawn-on post-it notes out from its hiding place in his laptop bag. Roxas peeled them apart slowly and stuck them on the wall, first forming an 'I', then the letters 'L,' 'O,' 'V,' and 'E.' He actually had to pause at some of them, because each of the sticky notes made his heart thud outrageously in his chest. As he started putting together the 'Y' Roxas looked over at the clock and balked – it had been almost ten minutes since Axel had left. He'd be back any minute.

Sure enough, Roxas was just putting the last few post-its on the 'U' when Axel walked in, carrying an armload of pillows.

There was a moment there, one where they both froze and stared at each other, that was not unlike the fateful day Axel caught Roxas' gaze from across their mutual classroom, their eyes both wide with the realization of something overwhelmingly profound. Roxas could remember that moment vividly – the lazy ponytail Axel had pulled his hair into, the slowly-spreading toothy grin that split his face, the way Axel's facial tattoos bunched up beneath his bright, Granny-Smith apple eyes. He also remembered the moment after class, when Axel approached him and Roxas noted his awkwardly long limbs, and decided that the redhead reminded him of an abnormally graceful stork – and the instant he realized, not two months later when Axel lay curled up beside him, skin tacky with dried sweat, that yeah, it was probably love.

As Roxas relived the most important memories in their relationship, Axel was looking at the post-it note message with a stunned expression.

"This isn't what it looks like," Roxas said hastily, only to see Axel's grin widen. "Nuh-uh, not what you think," he tried to deter Axel as his husband moved closer, his eyes still trained on the drawings covering the post-its.

"You," Axel began, his eyes alight with mischief.

"Don't even," Roxas said in warning.

"Are a SECRET SAP!" Axel shouted, an announcement that could probably be heard by visitors to the hotel across the street.

Oh, it was _on. _Roxas screamed, letting loose his most fearsome battle cry as he leapt down from the chair, tackling his husband onto the bed. Axel was already cackling hysterically like the mad thing he was, rolling with Roxas' momentum until the blond had him pinned and was holding Axel's wrists against the sheets, the pillows long forgotten. "I'm not a sap!"

"Please don't do that, don't screech like that, you sound like an Ewok," Axel laughed, his face beet red. He didn't even bother protesting Roxas' decision to pin him, because really he was more than ok with this.

"Are you serious? An _Ewok?_ I DO NOT!"

"Yes you do," Axel snickered, darting up to capture Roxas' lips briefly. "You're adorable. And yes, you sound like a fucking Ewok, so cut that out. What were you doing?"

Roxas paused, pouting for a few moments as he glanced briefly back at the wall and the obvious evidence of his inner sap. "Nothing."

"Naaaahhhhh, it's not 'nothing,'" Axel grinned, shifting comfortably beneath him. "I want to see. Let me up."

Roxas glared at him reluctantly for a while, his pout not even receding when Axel prodded him even further. Finally he relented, releasing Axel's wrists and rolling off of him.

Axel snickered and stood, walking over to the wall and putting his hands on his broad hips.

"Don't say it," Roxas warned, more out of his own self-consciousness than anything else.

"I won't," Axel mumbled, barely audible in the strange silence between them as he stared up at the post-it script on the wall, taking in each and every slip that Roxas had been embarrassed about.

Eleven years ago, Axel began asking Roxas to marry him.

They'd been dating for almost two years at that point, and Axel knew that Roxas knew that this was really it. Axel, having never thought of himself as the monogamous type, suddenly found himself wanting nothing more than to be with his diminutive, feisty blond and no one else for the rest of his life and that was enough for him. Roxas, in his typically stubborn fashion, actually turned him down several times. Axel proposed through karaoke, with a ring slipped into the bottom of a beer glass ("Are you trying to kill me?" Axel remembered Roxas saying on that memorable occasion), in a flurry of cherry blossoms on a visit to Washington D.C. . . . Roxas turned each one down, but not for lack of love. He loved Axel more than he thought possible for a human being, but it never felt right. As far as he was concerned, what would getting married do? They already knew they loved each other, and had expressed it profusely – what could a slip of paper really change between them? Axel would seemingly let it go for a time, and then spring the question again later, hoping for a different reaction.

Eventually Axel took on a much more elaborate proposal scheme than he had ever tried before, which involved him drawing a different scene on each individual post-it from their time together. They were little things, both memories and wishes and promises of never ending love and devotion; Axel had arranged them across their bedroom wall in the phrase 'MARRY ME?' and waited until Roxas returned home from work. Axel would never, ever forget the look on Roxas' face when he dropped his laptop bag carelessly on the floor, looking thoroughly dumbstruck, and approached the wall to examine each and every post-it. There were tears in his eyes and a 'yes' on his lips before Axel even spoke.

0o0

Axel was dumbstruck. Roxas, for all his bravado, had managed an anniversary gift more surprising than maybe even his own. He'd been expecting maybe the coy promise of an erotic massage, or really anything – anything but a flashback to his days spent leading up to his final (successful) proposal.

But there, between the letters 'I' and 'U,' was all the evidence he needed. There was a post-it with a drawing of him singing karaoke (complete with an Axel thought-bubble that indicated he envisioned his musical proposal somewhere along the lines of that scene from Sixteen Candles with the boom box), drawings of them playing laser tag and Humans vs Zombies, playing video games enthusiastically, of them out in front of the Harry Potter Experience in Florida, with Hogwarts in the background. Another post-it on the letter 'L' was of them at a convention, dressed as video game characters and making out with a screaming blob in the background; there were even drawings of their previous anniversaries (except number seven) during the better moments, before Roxas ended up sick or mad.

This was a serious moment. One that Axel knew usually meant teary and sappy professions of everlasting love and devotion – he'd seen enough Spanish soaps to know a moment like that when he saw it. So of course he turned to Roxas with a broad, wicked grin on his face and an overt sway to his hips. Roxas was staring at him warily, like he knew exactly what was going on in Axel's mind and dreaded it a bit. He even took a step back when Axel stepped in close, putting his arms over Roxas' shoulders.

"What?" Roxas asked.

"You loooooovveeee me," Axel said in a sing-song voice.

"Nope," Roxas quipped. "Don't know where you'd get such a crazy idea," he said, even as a small grin crept into the corner of his mouth.

"Don't lie, I know you totally dig me," Axel purred, moving in closer and tilting his head down closer to Roxas'.

"Ok, fine. Maybe a little," Roxas allowed, still teasing but he knew Axel had him. "It's your dorky charm."

"Gets you every time," Axel said with his lips to Roxas' temple.

"Yeah, maybe," Roxas grinned, fitting his hands around Axel's hip bones and tugging him closer. Axel smelled like sweat and cologne, a scent Roxas was very familiar with. "So. You went through a lot of trouble to set that up without me knowing about it," he said, changing the subject.

"I might've."

"You know," Roxas said conversationally, "as I recall, the first time we made out in the back seat of your car you had 'While the Night is Still Young' playing." That was one of the last songs Joel had sung during the concert, and they'd spent most of the last refrain with their lips locked together.

"I have excellent taste in mood music," Axel murmured, sliding his hands down Roxas' back to cup his ass; that moment was also amongst the post-it note drawings.

Roxas grinned when Axel moved closer, allowing him to feel the hard line of his arousal against his hip. "Need some help with that?" Roxas teased, reaching between them and palming the front of Axel's jeans, earning him a barely stifled moan.

"I would _love _some help," Axel said dramatically, stepping back with Roxas towards one of the beds. Axel fell back on the thick comforter with his knees hanging off the edge of the bed; Roxas followed, looming over him and unbuttoning Axel's pants, dragging the zipper down slowly before tugging the denim off, leaving Axel in his bright red 'anniversary weekend underpants,' which did absolutely nothing to hide his erection. Roxas could easily follow the form of his length through the bright red material, half hard with arousal. Axel sat up and pulled his shirt off, giving Roxas an unadulterated view of his stomach and chest; now left in only his underwear, Axel tugged Roxas closer by his belt loops so he was standing between his long legs.

Roxas pulled his own shirt off swiftly and Axel was already occupying himself with the removal of the blond's jeans, popping the button and pulling down the zipper, all while licking at Roxas' navel. Not for the first or last time Roxas suddenly missed Axel's tongue ring; he'd taken it out the year after college when he got a job at a marketing firm, but the things Axel could do with his tongue – especially with the metal accessory – were enough to drive Roxas insane. Axel pushed his jeans and boxer briefs down off his hips and down his legs until Roxas stepped out of them, kicking his clothing out of the way. One of Axel's large hands wrapped around his erection loosely, stroking up and down while goosebumps spread all over Roxas' skin. When the redhead finally met his eyes Roxas pounced, tackling him onto the bed.

Axel chuckled, nipping Roxas' lip and shuffling higher onto the bed, pulling Roxas over him; he liked having Roxas above him when they had sex, liked feeling his weight just as much as Roxas enjoyed being on top. The better part of thirteen years had given them plenty of time to experiment with positions and kinks and ideas, but there were some that just seemed to _work._

Roxas pushing and bending Axel in half, with the redhead's knees firmly over his shoulders as he pressed hot, open-mouthed kisses to Axel's collar bone while he moaned loudly in Roxas' ear – that worked really well.

No matter how many times they had sex – and they'd had a lot – Roxas could never get enough of how hot Axel was inside, how he opened up around his cock, the way Axel moaned in his ear when he slid in to the hilt, or the scratches left by Axel's nails when he finally started to move. Roxas rolled his hips slowly at first, like he always did just to make sure Axel was ready, until his husband nipped at the shell of his ear sharply and told him to get moving. Roxas grinned lustfully and complied gladly, bracing himself with his palms against the sheets and rolling his hips, picking up speed gradually. Axel's legs were shifted down around Roxas' hips after a bit for their comfort; Roxas leaned forward and captured his husband's lips, swallowing his moan as Axel wrapped his legs further around Roxas, pulling him closer and deeper still. With Roxas' movements growing stiffer and more erratic as he neared his climax, Axel reached between them to stroke his own hard, leaking cock furiously, rubbing precome down the shaft. Roxas groaned deeply into his mouth, thrusting hard and drawing gasps from Axel's throat until he finally gave one last stiff thrust and moaned Axel's name brokenly. The redhead found his release with Roxas' own, the feeling of his cock pulsing and filling him brought Axel over the edge, shuddering and moaning and coating their stomachs before they collapsed together.

Roxas was the first to move, laying a kiss over Axel's heart as he pulled out gently and kicked the dirty comforter down off the bed. Axel hummed pleasantly and curled up to him, the feeling of come leaking onto his thighs and the sweet ache of sex filling his muscles and being as Roxas wrapped his arms around him; he opened one eye and looked at the post-it message on the wall, feeling his heart expand in his chest, and smiled. Roxas wiped his thighs and their abdomens with a towel a bit later before crawling in beside his husband to fall asleep once and for all.

As far as Roxas was concerned, it was their best anniversary yet – and they still had two more days to make the most of it.


End file.
